We drove up from Miami on Saturday and were able to make reservations for one night of camping at Jacksonville Naval Air Station Campground for that night. We also made some arrangements to be able to do some repairs on our rental house on Sunday afternoon and part of Monday. Before we checked into the campground though, we stopped at our favorite Mexican food Restaurant in the whole wide world. Rosy's was a place that almost two years ago we would frequent a couple of times a month. Some of the waiters even knew us enough to remember what we liked to order. The kids thought wouldn't that be neat if they remembered us, but Mom and I had to let them know that that would be next to impossible with all of the time that had past and with the sheer number of people who frequent the restaurant on a daily basis. After parking at a nearby Lowes, we went in and the first person to see us was the owner who first said "welcome", and then did a double take and then got all smiles and went in for a hug as he laughed "long time no see!!". Sure enough they remembered us. He seated us and then even brought out a cheese dip with the chips and salsa that we always ordered. We talked a bit just for some catch up and for him to marvel at how big the kids had gotten, then we got our fill of carne-asada tacos. We then checked into the campground and had a relaxing evening.
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| Rosy's Mexican Restaurant in Jacksonville |
The next morning we wanted to go to our old church and hopefully do a little catching up with some friends there. We didn't know ahead of time what days, or if any days would be possible to be able to be in Jacksonville due to not knowing exactly when the DET in Key West would finish, or exactly how soon I would have to be back to work in Virginia, so we didn't make big arrangements to meet up with people ahead of time. It's also sometimes fun to just surprise people. There were definitely some shocked faces as friends got to see us and to see our kids and how much they had grown. Even our son's voice changed in the almost two years we had been away and he was almost a foot taller. Our daughter was also taller and filling out. We were able to hook up with some friends of ours who had kids that ours used to play with and we even let our daughter hang out with them for the afternoon while the rest of us went and looked over our rental house. Afterwards we were invited over there for dinner, and as we didn't have a place lined up to stay other than a Wal-Mart parking lot, and this family lived out in the country, they invited us to park at their place while my daughter got a sleep over.
The next day was Monday and we got to do some repairs on our old fence and some other upkeep items that the current tenants were very appreciative of but were more cosmetic and preventative than anything. Our big plan for the day though, was to go to our son's old Boy Scout Troop meeting that evening and let him surprise them. My son had the best time in this troop and we really missed it. I had also been an Assistant Scout Master in the troop, and even my wife had made many friends there with the parents and leaders. My son had made Eagle Scout while in Virginia and was anxious to share his experiences with his old friends. We got there early and we even had an old Troop 128 T-shirt that my son wore under his uniform shirt, even though his uniform had the numbers 504 on it from his new troop. Our RV in the parking lot gave away that we were there as many had seen it before we had left, but we were still a surprise and the big hit of the evening. It was a lot of fun seeing his old friends, who had also just like our son, grown and had all of their voices change. You don't really notice that until you've been away for awhile. Even several of the parents who had only come to drop off their sons had to stop and get out and say hi and give hugs. We even had some people who we had been hoping to connect with hear that we were there and they too came over to see us even if it was for just a little while. His old Scout Master introduced him again for the new scouts and then razed him a bit for having the new numbers on his uniform, but for the troop it was a t-shirt day so when my son took off his uniform shirt to reveal a Troop 128 shirt, just like all of the other boys were wearing, it was a big hit even drawing applause from all who were there. Afterwards we went over to the local McDonalds to have a little more time with our friends and his old Scout Master so we could actually talk. We had a great time and my son sincerely thanked me for helping to make this work out for us. I think it was the cherry on top of the sunday when it came to our whole trip.
As good as all of that was, I had to be to work in a day and a half so we decided to get an hours drive time in and headed back up to Brunswick GA, to the Wal-Mart we had stayed at on the way to Key West. This time there were at least 10 RVs with us there.
Have any of you noticed on many RVs, the vinyl maps that are an outline of the United States that you fill in the states as you have been to them. Well we got one and put it on the front wall of one of our slide outs so you don't see it unless we are camping. You get to make your own rules as to what allows you to put a state sticker on your map. Many people put the sticker on if they have just been in a state, or others if you did something in that state. I let our kids make up the rule and they wanted it to be if we spent the night in that state in our RV. We have gotten a few people who wondered how we had a sticker for FL, and SC (where we stayed when we moved), and one for VA, but not one in the connecting states of GA and NC. We had put on the GA sticker after we had stayed in Brunswick on the trip down to Key West, and we now had a long drive back to Virginia Beach that I asked the family if they wanted to get back real bad, OR, possibly spend the night on the border in Roanoke Rapids NC, before heading into VA and getting home so I could get to work the next afternoon. "It would get us a sticker!" I added. So with great enthusiasm, Tuesday night we stayed at the Wal-Mart in Roanoke Rapids with four other RVs, just so we could put a sticker on our map. :) The next morning we finished the four hour drive to Dam Neck and got set up, and I made it to work on time. When ever anybody at work asked me when we made it back (knowing I had almost five days to do it in), it was fun to be able to look at my watch and say "A couple of hours ago!".
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